Surveys show that 10 percent of all hospitalised patients acquire an infection due to inadequate hygiene. Hospital-acquired infections result in 3,000 Danes dying every year as well as in more than 1 million sick days, just as inadequate hygiene places an economic burden on society of close to DKK 4 billion. WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that in Europe alone, hospital-acquired infections result in a total of 16 million extra hospital days, 37,000 deaths and cost approximately EUR 7 billion (WHO). Hand hygiene is expected to be the main factor when it comes to hospital-acquired infections.
Today, many people have knowledge about correct hand hygiene practice, but the challenge remains to have this knowledge translated into changed behaviour. And it is not only with respect to the expensive hospital-acquired infections that good hand hygiene is important, since the effect of good hand hygiene has been documented in several other sectors.
Studies have e.g. shown that optimised focus on hand hygiene in day care facilities leads to significant reductions in the sickness absence among both children and staff as well as saves society large amounts in potential lost earnings, because parents do not have to take as many days off to take care of their sick children.
Data from interviews and focus groups and data from the technical measurements of lavatory user behaviour have already provided a clear indication that the hand hygiene habits associated with toilet visits of many patients are inadequate or virtually non-existent.
Under the auspices of the European Union, a set of recommendations were prepared in 2009 focusing on the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections through education and training of healthcare personnel in respect of hygienic practice for controlling infections, through better dissemination of information to patients as well as through more research.
At present, no legislation dealing with this problem exists, which is presumably a consequence of the fact that no system exists for measuring and assessing the level of hygiene. Presently, conventional cleaning and control thereof is carried out on the basis of DS/INSTA 800 which is based on an assessment of visual cleanliness and not hygienic cleanliness. Consequently, the cleaning effort is generally not directed towards the non-visible illness-inducing microorganisms.